


Something Sinister

by toni_of_the_trees



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Altered Mental States, Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Horror, M/M, Mental Instability, Psychological Horror, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-11
Updated: 2017-05-02
Packaged: 2018-10-17 14:22:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 8,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10595814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toni_of_the_trees/pseuds/toni_of_the_trees
Summary: "The surge was deafening, room destroyed and window framessplintered inward after the eruption.Gasping through his panic, he sat up, crawling backwards awayfrom the windows as he whimpered in terror. Ignoring the glasscutting into his palms, he fumbled to the doorway, stiltingwhen the sobbing changed to a bone chilling childish giggle...it suddenly grew into a deeper bellowed tone...a heavy, horrifying guttural growl behind him.Before Will could even fathom turning to see whatever beast wasnear him, a hot puff of putrid air huffing once against his curls,he could only stifle a short yelp- an unnaturally large handwrapping around his face to break the cry as he wasviolently snatched backwards into the pulsingred shadows of the hall."





	1. The Guest Room

**Author's Note:**

> Anyone up for some horror fics?

   

 

 

Will Graham suffers a multitude of mental ailments that affects him and his life on a daily basis.

 

He could never quite tell what was real and what was delusion, his nightmares seeped into reality until  
it somehow made itself renown as a farce behind his own betraying eyes. Even then, when he felt the  
most confident, if there even was such a feeling, the doubts still lingered around his skewered perspective  
of the world around him.

 

From the outside, he was a nervous, twitchy young man who's eyes only really met shoulders, shy, they'd say;  
while on the inside-

 

He was in hell.

 

\---

 

~~ "~~NO!!!"

 

Will shot up from his pillow, panting as he trembled, drenched in sweat he searched for his hands and stared  
at them - like they weren't his own for a moment of disintegrating terror.

 

Grounding himself, he steadied his breathing and discarded the soaked t-shirt, using it to wipe his face  
before tossing it to the floor.

 

After throwing his legs over the side of the bed, his bare feet settled on the cold wood floor, he froze,  
blinking a few times once he finally noticed the room was being repeatedly lit- the dark shadows deepened  
then lifted against a surging bright red that rhythmically pulsed through the windows.

 

He slowly drew his eyes up from his floored feet, turning to look at the window, the harsh blood tinted light  
streaming on and off past white dancing curtains. He didn't recall leaving the window open...the wind blowing  
through- gently tousling the thin fabric shades.

 

Time seemed to slow as he focused on the window, even his body refusing to act on his own attempt to stand and  
move- he tried to make his way towards it. The red grew brighter, radiating even slower by each step he  
managed as his hand fought a strange weight to lift from his side.

 

Despite the staggering change of time pace, his heart abruptly dropped to his stomach, dread filled his veins,  
a physical alarm going off within him to desert the calling light and window, a chemical signal telling him to  
go back.

 

He obeyed the frightening caution and let his hand drop back to his side, a sharp gasp when the room  
spun and changed around him. The red light replaced with a bright early morning sun, a closed window  
and stationary curtains, the room flooded with warmth.

 

In spite of the returned regular environment, his clothes, hair, and bed still remained soaked with sweat.

 

"Fucking nightmares..." He mumbled to himself, shaking his head as he made his way to the bathroom.

 

Once again, he froze- the hallway void of sunlight almost seemed to shiver before his eyes as the red light  
returned from nowhere, no windows, no open doors, just red.

 

His eyes snapped from the shady floor to a door that cracked open quietly, his muscles all tensing  
when he heard the faintest crying from the space.

 

Out of all his night terrors, sleepwalking, losses of time, seizures and all, this was the first he had ever  
audibly heard something other than his own heavy breathing. This new sound, made him question  
if it was reality.

 

He stepped forward, lightly pushing the cracked door open further as his elbow refused to stop trembling.

 

"...hello?" He cringed at his cracked shaky voice, foreign to him in times like this due to never having spoken  
before during his hallucinations or nightmares.

 

The sobbing grew clearer as he entered the room, his nerves tingling like pure static beneath fresh sweating  
skin and muscles, he tried again.

 

"...is someone~!?" His question was broken into a shout, falling back to the ground as all the windows in the  
room shattered inward, glass exploding all around him- he threw his arms up over his head, screaming when  
various shards sliced across his bare torso and thighs beneath his wrinkled boxers.

 

The surge was deafening, room destroyed and window frames splintered inward after the eruption. 

 

Gasping through his panic, he sat up, crawling backwards away from the windows as he whimpered  
in terror. Ignoring the glass cutting into his palms, he fumbled to the doorway, stilting when the  
sobbing changed to a bone chilling childish giggle...it suddenly grew into a deeper bellowed tone...a heavy, horrifying  
guttural growl behind him.

 

Before Will could even fathom turning to see whatever beast was behind him, a hot puff of putrid air huffing once against his curls, he could only stifle a short yelp- an unnaturally large hand wrapping around his face to break the cry as he was violently snatched backwards into the pulsing red shadows of the hall.

 

 

\---

 

 

 

Beverly Katz wandered around the taped off house, glancing up at Jack now and then when they passed one another,  
curious if he had any clue what had happened to Will Graham.

 

She scowled at the one room that had the most significant clues in. The guest bedroom. Everything was in tact,  
the usual careless demeanor of Will's housekeeping- everything was typical. All but two marks on the floor, and  
one on the doorframe.

 

"So no sign of breaking and entering, no sign of robbery, no sign of assault, no blood, no fluids, no strange  
prints anywhere, nothing but THESE?" Beverly asked Brian and Jimmy curiously, gesturing at the marks.

 

Jimmy sighed and let Brian take this one.

 

"These two on the floor, they're definitely nail marks, like...he was dragged out of the room. It's all five fingers  
from both hands...he took wood with him, that's for sure. Whoever had him had him good. I'm surprised there isn't  
any leftover fingernails with how hard he tried to fight the pull. The one on the doorframe, he gave up one hand  
to try and find another way to keep from being taken. The other hand in this situation I'm going to have to assume  
was spent trying to pry whatever grip his attacker had on him. Usually in these cases it's either the hair, the throat,  
or the ankles. Depends on how he's being dragged out. I want to say-"

 

"STOP." Beverly cut Zeller off short with both hands held up in surrender, pleading him not to go on any further.

 

Brian and Jimmy looked up at her from their studying crouch with concern and remained silent, Brian nodding  
as he understood her frustration being Will's best friend.

 

"We got one more thing to add to our short list of clues." Jack approached with a low aggravated tone.

 

They all looked to him and waited for the reveal. He held up an emptied bag of treats.

 

Beverly gasped in shock, piecing Jack's tell together in an instant.

 

 

 

 

 

"Where the hell are his dogs?"

 

 

\---


	2. Death In Absentia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A person may be legally declared dead despite the absence of direct proof of the person's death.
> 
> Such a declaration is typically made when a person has been missing for an extended period of time and in the absence of any evidence that the person is still alive - or after a much shorter period but where the circumstances surrounding a person's disappearance overwhelmingly supports the belief that the person has died.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This declaration is called Absentia.

  

 

 

Hannibal and Beverly took on a search of their own once the four month long search was called to a 'calm' in the force.  
They had nothing easy or remotely leading to work off of, but Beverly and Hannibal refused to let that be a reason for them  
to give up on the young man.

 

After so long, Beverly had been the only person allowed to sign the paperwork pertaining to the case, Hannibal recognized  
as his unspoken lover, she kept secret in respects of the two. The worst day of both of their lives happened together,  
signing a certificate declaring Will Graham's death in absentia.

 

After the search was placed on the back burner, Beverly approached Hannibal with a strange  
theory one night.

 

She had experienced the strangest dream, encountering her dear friend Will in a dark place in her sleep, the

hazel blue-green eyes shaded as he reached out to touch her face without words. She jolted awake once

his fingers grazed her jaw, his eyes looking over her shoulder to his own clawed floor boards.

 

As soon as she woke, she leapt from Will's bed and snatched her laptop out of her satchel, punching in

Will's home address to look up the land's history.

 

 

\---

 

"I get it if you think I'm fucking insane, but just look at it, okay? Tell me what you see with all of these  
disappearances, what you take from it." Beverly shoved a large stack of paperwork into Hannibal's hands,  
her eyes determined as she stared at him sternly.

 

He saw how serious she was, and accepted the pile, sitting down to his desk chair and spreading the sheets  
across the table.

 

"...these people all disappeared in the spot Will's home was built on...there used to be a bridge there before  
it became a landfill...then later purchasable land...his house is over what used to be a bridge and landfill...help  
me understand what it is that is very odd about this, Ms. Katz? Most land is nothing before it's something..."

 

Hannibal raised a brow at her before looking back down at the photographs of half demolished bridges  
and trees.

 

Beverly hovered and began explaining each section to the doctor.

 

"There's been at least 6 people who've disappeared every decade in this exact spot, where this  
bridge used to be...then it was bulldozed, covered, filled and rebuilt on...where Will's house was built. I don't want  
to sound like a nut case...but I did the math...the guest room is exactly where the bridge had been decades ago."

 

Hannibal exhaled and looked up at Beverly. "You mean where the marks were found..."

 

"Yes, EXACTLY there, is where one end of the bridge would have been, Hannibal." She snatched one photo  
from the pile and slammed it atop the other papers, Hannibal looking down to see what she had selected.

 

He frowned, his heart skipping a fearful beat when he saw the mangled, twisted body destroyed beyond  
recognition a few feet from the entrance of the tunnel beneath the said bridge- blood and bones  
scattered around the pile of wrecked anatomy.

 

"This is what was found of the most recent missing person that disappeared in that spot. This was 4 years ago,  
Hannibal. The one before that was 6 years before that. Before that was 8 years from this one. It's happening more  
often, and I don't give a fuck if anyone thinks I'm crazy-" She pulled another photo from the manila folder she  
held, dropping it to the table for Hannibal to see finally.

 

His eyes widened when he saw the dull, faded black and white image- the wood floor and doorway shockingly bearing  
the same claw marks Will's home had from a struggle without a single other trace of break in. He looked back to

Beverly with telling eyes now. Waiting for her to speak on the discovery.

 

 

 

"I think Will has become a victim of something folklore calls 'the underneath'..."

 

 

  
\---


	3. Winston

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hannibal is left baffled after a confusing phone call that apparently  
> never happened between Beverly and himself.
> 
> Though, a call *was* made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Premonition: 
> 
> A strong feeling that something is about to happen,
> 
> especially something unpleasant.

 

  

 

 

Hannibal couldn't stand it much longer, Will's unexplained absence grew heavier on his heart each day for 5 months now.  
Beverly seemed to be going out of her mind with bizzare theories- constantly badgering librarians and paranormal  
experts she reached out to. Jack had put her off duty for two months now because of her wild suggestions.  
Afraid she had begun to lose it, he requested Hannibal keep an eye on her.

 

This wasn't helping his aching loss for the young man, Beverly constantly bringing him new information on these  
horrific stories of a bridge, a tunnel, missing persons and brutally mangled things appearing out of nowhere  
on either end of this place. He didn't want to even think of finding Will in such a state.

 

He rubbed his temples in frustration, sighing when his cell rang.

 

"Beverly, it's well past midnight...might I ask if this is an emergency?"

 

Hannibal sat back in his chair, scrunching his brow curiously when there was nothing but static.  
"...hello? Ms. Katz?"

 

The static hissed and broke, a muffled sob before he heard her faint voice tremble  
beneath the garbled sounds ("- _Will_ ~"), the call ended.

 

Hannibal stared at the screen in confusion, shook the shiver that ran down his spine away and dialed her number back.  
It rang a few times before it picked up, Beverly's sleepy voice answering as he sighed in relief.

 

("Hannibal? What...what is it? What time is it?")

 

"My apologies dear...I'm not...I was sure you had just called me and had a bad connection. You must have accidentally  
done it, are you sleeping with your phone in your bed again?" Hannibal recalled back to when she stayed in his guestroom  
the first few months Will had gone missing, rolling over to her phone in her sleep and calling everyone on the team.

 

("Mmno..I stopped that when everyone started complaining about my snoring voicemails...lemme see....no, it doesn't  
say I called you Lecter...what's going on?")

 

Hannibal blinked a few times before looking to his call history, standing quickly- his chair tilted and fell to the ground.  
Beverly heard the wood skirtting on wood and called out to him, ("Hannibal? What was that, Hannibal what the hell-")

 

"...Beverly, I'm going to meet you at Will's house in 2 hours, wait for me there."

 

("What? Shit, did something happen, Hannibal tell me! I'm getting dressed! What the fuck happened!?")

Hannibal rushed to change out of his silk bottoms into khaki jeans and pulled a black t-shirt on before  
grabbing the phone that was on speaker, shoving his feet into his brown leather shoes as he found  
his keys.

 

"I don't know, Beverly, but my phone says that Will just called me from his phone in Wolftrap."

 

\---

 

Hannibal slowed his vehicle as he drove up the long isolated road, turning on his fog lights when the  
fog around him seemed to grow heavier.

 

He parked and stepped out, eyes wide in confusion as he studied the land. Will's house destroyed, as if it  
had gone up in flames and the remains left to rot. Ashes danced in the air around him, the snow covered  
fields and trees replaced with embers and decaying buildings around a road leading to a bridge.

 

Disbelieving what was before him, he blinked hard, rubbing his eyes with his fingers before opening them  
again. His neck tensed when everything was suddenly back to normal, the home in tact and snowy fields  
settled untouched beneath thick white coated woods.

 

"...Winston?" Hannibal stared in shock, one of Will's pack sat silently on the porch, covered in some sort of black

liquid similar to blood, some of it smeared on the plastic flap of the doggy door.

 

He walked over to the porch, glancing at Beverly's car to see it empty. "Here Winston...good boy...where  
have you been...what's this on you, hm?" Hannibal leaned over, touching his finger tips to the dogs snout  
and sniffed the strange liquid, a hint of blood somewhere in the substance. He lead the dog to his car,  
beyond shocked and relieved to see one of Will's dogs finally show up, but too worried to leave it  
to wonder about. After cracking the windows and leaving the vehicle on with conditioning on, he  
shut the door and returned to the porch, calling out for Beverly again.

 

Beverly and Hannibal both had spare key's to the young man's home- though he often left it  
unlocked. Since his disappearance it has remained locked, the police tape old and wrinkled as it stuck to  
the wood. Beverly must have already gone inside, seeing as it was open now.

 

Entering the house, he felt his shoulders grow heavy again, frowning when he approached the bed so  
strangely placed in the living room. His fingers ghosted over the single pillow, the cheap fabric still smelled  
like the troubled boy's sweat- the constant terrors that ruined his sleep for so many nights sunken permanently  
into the worn out cotton.

 

Abandoning the desire to lay down on the mattress, wrap himself in the unmade sheets and stay there until  
his partner magically returned to him in his arms, he stepped away.

 

 

\---


	4. Leave A Message

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's here~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hysterical:
> 
> Deriving from or affected by uncontrolled extreme emotion,  
> frenzied, frantic, wild and feverish. 
> 
> To be out of one's mind.

 

   

 

Unable to find Beverly he began to worry, his search in every room as he called out to her resulting with no sign...

until he rechecked the guestroom in which Will had disappeared.

 

He crouched down, spotting a small pearl settled just in a crack of the wood floor.

 

An earring of Beverly's, he picked it up slowly, his chest grew tight as he examined it, a spot of blood on one  
side of the jewel had his heart drop in dread. At that moment, his cell rang in his pocket, jolting him from  
his fearful thoughts as he snatched it out and saw the name on the screen- 'WILL GRAHAM'.

 

"Will-!?" He paused when the static from before crackled from the speaker against his ear. He listened.

 

The static hissed and broke, again, a muffled sob before he heard her faint voice tremble  
beneath the garbled sounds ("- _Will_ ~"), Beverly's voice, exactly as it had been heard the first time he received the call,

 

" **Beverly**? Where are you? How do you have Will's-" He stood up and listened again when the static  
continued this time, squinting as he turned up the volume to listen harder for her distant words.

 

(".. _I..I found..don't-...sleep_ ~") The words were broken up, missing pieces lost to the scrambled static.

 

Before he could speak, it ended. He huffed in frustration, gripping the cell tight as he stared at Will's name.  
He couldn't make sense of anything that was happening, nothing in the last few hours held any logic,  
his chest burning in ache as he called Will's number back.

 

Straight to voicemail, he leaned his back against the doorframe, covering his mouth as he slid down to the ground  
and rested his arms on his bent knees. The voicemail answered with the young man's desperately missed awkward tone.

 

("You've reached Will Graham's voicemail. Uh, _leave a message_. Kay.")

He shook his head with a sad, short frown and hung up, calling again to listen to Will's voice.

 

Doing this over, and over again, he tilted his head back against the frame and wondered what he should do, trying  
to make sense of the calls, where Beverly was, and just how crazy Jack would call him if he brought any of it  
to the bureau. Beverly missing was surely enough of something to bring Will's disappearance back to light,  
maybe he should say something now, since they'll likely make him wait a while before looking for her.

 

The thoughts swarmed around his head, he wondered what the words had meant. What had she found?

Calling Beverly's phone went straight to voicemail, telling it was off or out of battery. 

 

Even though he wasn't tired, he found himself strangely exhausted, his eye lids grew heavy along with his

muscles, he dizzied as his breathing slowed.

 

He fell asleep sitting there against the doorframe, listening to Will's message one more time before  
the cell dropped from his hand.

 

 

\---

 

Hannibal woke, confused as he stood in the dark room. He looked at his watch before picking up his phone,  
looking at it again when he noticed it had stopped ticking. Frozen at 3 AM when he had fallen asleep.

 

He looked to the window now, curious as a bright red light pulsed through the curtains.

 

Before he reached out to push the drapes aside, a hand grabbed his shoulder, spinning him around to face  
the unexpected company.

 

" **Beverly**?" Hannibal muttered, the woman panting as she gripped his shoulders with trembling hands. A black  
liquid spilled from the top of her head down her soaked clothes, a large gash reaching from the bridge of her  
nose over to her ear as he noticed the torn lobe where her earring would have been.

 

"Hannibal, Hannibal it took him-" She panicked as he tried to steady her with wild confusion on his face. 

 

"Beverly what happened to you- what's this on you-" He glanced back to the window, the strange red light still  
illuminating on and off before she snapped him back to her attention.

 

"HANNIBAL YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE GONE TO SLEEP HERE- I DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED, I THINK I FELL ASLEEP  
AND WOKE UP AND IT TOOK ME HERE, OR, SOMEWHERE, I SAW **WILL** , IT TOOK HIM AWAY, THEN, _WINSTON_ , I TRIED TO CALL YOU,  
I FOUND HIS PHONE IN- IN THE BLOOD, IN THE, OH, GOD THE _**TUNNEL**_...WILL~" She began sobbing out of control as she dropped  
to the ground in his arms, screaming as he wrapped them around her and shushed her despite his horrific  
bewilderment over what was happening.

 

"Shh..Beverly, I found Winston outside...he's in my car, you said you SAW Will? Here? What...what happened to him?  
What took him, dear you have to speak to me...I need to get you to a hospital-" He frowned as he tried to get her to calm down,  
freezing when she suddenly gasped and snapped her head toward the shadowy doorway.

 

He furrowed his brow, looking up from the black liquid and blood that her soaked jacket stained his shirt  
and pants with, following her eyes as the room was suddenly so silent.

 

A faint chitter echoes from the hall, causing Beverly to instinctively reach for her hip, a small gasp as she realized  
her gun was gone, holster torn in half hanging from her belt. Hannibal heard the sound and saw her hand, her  
face fearful as she fumbled to her feet with her hand grasping at his wet t-shirt.

 

" ** _It's here_** ~"

 

 

A low bellowed tone deafened the air around them, the red light cut off drowning the home in darkness.

 

Hannibal grunted as he suddenly hit the ground, his head cracking against the wood floor he was dragged  
across the floor toward nothing. He cringed as the pull bunched and lifted his shirt up to his shoulder blades,  
the wood burning against his back, he tried to untangle his ankles from whatever had him-

 

 

 

Beverly's hand slipped from his as she cried out for him, left behind as he dissipated in the shadows.

 

 

\---


	5. T R A D E

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If this was all really happening,   
> if Beverly was actually right about all of this,   
> then Will was in here somewhere,  
> suffering whatever horrors Beverly had witnessed,   
> at the hands of whatever creature dwelled in this 'underneath'  
> as she had called it.
> 
> All he really knew was that she said he was here,   
> and that's all he needed to know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Determination:
> 
> A firmness of purpose, resoluteness. An unflinching resolve  
> through strength of willpower and tenacity.
> 
> A strong hearts resolve.

   

 

 

Beverly stood, trembling in the doorway of the guest bedroom, covered in the black and red liquid she stared at the  
sunlit hall.

 

"H-Hannibal...?" She stammered, taking a shaky step forward into the hall, everything returned to normal except for  
her own self. "Sh..shit... **Hannibal**?" She looked back at the room, everything in place but for her dark wet shoe prints on  
the wood, then trudged painfully in shock through the home towards the front door.

 

Shielding her arm from the blaring early sunlight that reflected so brightly off the snowy field, she stood on the  
porch and looked at Hannibal's car parked not too far from her own- the engine still running as Winston barked

and howled through the cracked windows in the front seat.

 

Putting together what just happened in her head, she dashed from the porch to his car, snatching the  
door open and pushed Winston over to the passenger seat as she reversed out of the driveway, tires burning  
once it left the snow and hit concrete. She tried to contain her twitching sore muscles as she sped down the  
road, wiping her jaw on her shoulder to try and remove a drying patch of the dark liquid from her skin.

 

Winston whined, getting her attention for a moment as she sniffed and glanced over, frowning at the equally  
soaked mutt with a shaky exhaled sigh.

 

"It gave you back to the real world... _traded_ , for _me_...that's why...Hannibal found you...but now it  
thinks he was trading himself for...for me. It's trading...for.. _what_?"

 

\---

 

Hannibal gasped, sitting up straight when the entire environment around him spun, blurred like a snap from  
darkness to a foggy road. Looking around, he slowly stood, wincing when he felt a sharp pain in his ankle.

 

The road wrapped in a curve, the cement cracked, chunks risen and sunken between just as damaged sidewalks  
and deserted buildings that hovered abandoned and tattered. He looked down, touching his hand to his shirt  
and pulled it off slowly- the fabric trying to stick as he peeled away the black and red soaking stain Beverly had  
left on him.

 

"What is..." He scrunched his brows together, shifting his eyes up from his wet palm and spotted something  
familiar. A tunnel, under a small crossover bridge- three rusty metal beams sticking out of the ground  
to prevent cars from entering the walk-way tunnel.

 

It looked like the short overpass bridge from Beverly's pictures she had filed and shown him.

 

The fact brought a tightness to his chest, clenching his fists he made his way toward it, ignoring the ache in  
his bruising ankles.

 

\---

 

Hannibal wiped some of the liquid from his chin from having held Beverly in his arms, stopping just outside  
the entrance to the tunnel as he pondered walking through.

 

If this was all really happening, if Beverly was actually right about all of this, then Will was in here somewhere,  
suffering whatever horrors Beverly had witnessed, at the hands of whatever creature dwelled in this 'underneath'  
as she had called it.

 

All he really knew was that she said he was _here_ , and that's all he needed to know.

 

He stepped past the rotting poles and walked slowly into the dark tunnel, the grey foggy light at the  
other end glowing faintly against the shadows.

 

After a few feet, he studied the walls, stopping halfway through when he heard a distant cry.

 

He remained silent, listening for it again as the same chittering from the hallway echoed quietly around him. 

 

Tense, ready to fight, he tightened his fists at his side and turned on his heel to see nothing behind him,  
but the tunnel walls seemed to shift and bubble beneath the concrete, he stared in awe at the strange  
twisting shadows.

 

Suddenly there were many building voices, all overlapping one another with cries of agony, pained screams  
and violently vulgar muffled sounds of tearing and spilling drawing louder shrieks from invisible victims.

 

"WILL!?" Hannibal decided to try calling for the boy, turning in circles in the center of the spinning tunnel  
as he called again and again- his vision beginning to blur as he failed to focus on any one spot.

 

(~ _ **hHHANNIBAL**_ ~!?)

 

He froze, his ears locking on when he heard the young man's voice shout, a faded echoed cry- he surged forward and  
planted his hands on the wall. "WILL-!" He pulled a fist back, throwing it toward the wall as he  
yelled, but was cut off when the wall crumbled into ashes under his weight. Falling forward, he gasped  
a moment before hitting a pool of red and black liquid.

 

Thrashing about, he gasped for air when he surfaced, panting as he looked around frantically in confusion.  
The uncomfortably warm liquid he stood in up to his waist was littered with organs, bones and torn limbs burnt and  
discarded into the horrific slaughter pool.

 

" _Shit_..." He spat through a muttered curse, trying all over again to understand everything, he realized this is where

Beverly must have ended up, why she was covered with the filth. That also meant this is where she had found Will's cell  
phone- meaning the boy was near. That was why he could hear him through the walls of the tunnel.

 

At that, he shook the mess from his hand, using it to wipe the ink and blood from his face and huffed,  
trudging through the deep slough with determination.

 

 

\---


	6. Reunited Waves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will is finally spotted, running from an unseen predator hunting  
> him in the inescapable nightmare world. 
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> (sorry for suddenly long chapter~)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nightmare:
> 
> A frightening or unpleasant dream,  
> an archaic incubus- the ordeal terrifying as a hellish torment  
> in an unconscious hell.
> 
> Misery, Agony, or Torture.

 

 

 

 

 

Hannibal finally reached the end of the long bloody organ filled hall, the toe of his shoe hitting a  
drowned step, he grunted to lift his thighs up from under the heavy pool to climb the four steps.

 

Relieved to be on solid ground again, he leaned over to rest a minute, gripping his knees with  
lightly trembling palms. He wasn't a stranger to physically exhausting himself in his daily workouts  
and routines, but the mental toll of what he was trying to comprehend was wearing down on him,  
a horrific fear trying to weigh him down that his precious Will could be scattered amongst what he  
just spent so long fighting through.

 

He shook the thought from his head, huffing as he straightened up and looked around. The floor was  
a mixture of dirt, cement, and bloody wet mud for a few feet before it cleared up to just a damaged  
old path of cracking concrete- strange red and black vines growing inside the riddled openings up  
onto the walls that bled black.

 

The further he walked down the narrow dim lit space, the thinner the air became, a heat replacing  
most of the oxygen.

 

He came to a stop, his body tensing as he heard a faint pair of foot steps slapping against the  
wet ground with haste from somewhere nearby. The hall reached an intersection of different  
directions not too far from where he stood, his eyes locked on the space as he waited for  
whatever was coming to show itself.

 

The instant he saw the thing skid and slip, falling to the ground with a short shout, he gasped

hard- eyes widening as he took a step forward in surprise, walking faster when he knew for  
sure that it was his Will.

 

The black blood soaked boy clad in only boxers had tried to stop once he arrived so quickly to the dividing hall  
through his speedy sprinting, hitting the ground sloppily as he fumbled back to his bare feet with  
frantic fearful panting.

 

" **Will**?!" Hannibal called out, catching the young man's attention, even coated in the mess in such a  
dark horrific place his bright blue-green eyes stood out like the sun to him, his heart fluttering  
almost painfully as he choked on a scoffed disbelieving laugh.

 

Will gasped and held the corner of the wall as he finally noticed Hannibal halfway down one of the  
halls, tears brimming his eyes when the man broke into a quick run towards him.

 

"H- _ **Hannibal**_!" The man crashed into him, strong arms wrapping tightly around him as he was almost  
taken back down to the ground, his legs trembled- threatening to give out from under him in  
exhaustion and pain before he began sobbing into Hannibal's disgusting soaked t-shirt shoulder.

 

"Oh _mylimasis_ ~" Hannibal choked back a low broken groan as his arms refused to stop shaking as he  
squeezed the young man against him, gripping the wet messy curls in his fist as he muttered hasty loving  
words in another language- his own voice cracking through his painful relief to have the boy in his arms  
for the first time in so long.

 

"Hanni..Hannibal...we, we have to **go** , we have to leave, I just, I got away- I don't, god,  
please, I don't want to go back there, please~ is this the way **_out_**?" Will asked, looking up into  
Hannibal's blood stained face with a tremor on his fearful words.

 

Hannibal scrunched his eyes together and cupped Will's face gently, a sad frown on his mouth  
as he grounded his love with a kiss, feeling the young man exhale deeply through his nose  
against the desperately missed touch.

 

When the kiss broke, Will glanced over his shoulder to the dim red lit hall he had just run down,  
back to Hannibal with worried eyes.

 

"Please get me out of here...Hannibal.. _please_..." Will begged, his fingers twisting in Hannibal's  
shirt as if letting go would mean never touching him again.

 

Hannibal looked down at the hands, finally realizing the state Will was truly in beneath the thin  
coat of ink and blood.

 

Will had several large gashes deep in his flesh, slashed across in patterns of four in random areas,  
the blood wasn't from the pool, but from his own injuries. A cut across half of his forehead bled  
down over his right eye, dripping down his chin as the other wounds spilled over his bare torso,  
drenching his boxers and trembling thighs. His calves were bruised, large and dark black and yellow  
colours staining down to his ankles above swollen abused feet.

 

"My Will... _god_...what is this? I don't understand-"

 

"Hannibal, **PLEASE** , I've been here for so long, Hanni, how did you get here?! Where's Beverly!?"

 

Will snapped his hand over his own mouth, looking back to the hall and pushed Hannibal back to  
stay out of view when he realized he had spoken too loud.

 

Hannibal stared at him still awestruck in confusion, finally blinking away his urges when Will whined,  
a heartbreaking whimper of a child hiding from monsters under the bed, his heart ached in fury  
at the sound.

 

"I don't know what happened...I was in the guestroom of your home, looking for Ms. Katz...she showed  
up after some light lit through the window. She was covered like you and I are now- but...something  
dragged me into the hallway and- now I'm here...Winston is safe, I think...he was outside your house  
on the porch covered like us as...well..." Hannibal paused, slowly understanding the events that  
played out in such a strange order.

 

"Winston? Winston, oh, Winston's okay- how, god, how'd~" Will stammered trying to remember  
from months and months ago the last time he had spotted any of his dogs in the horrific place.

 

"I think...Beverly **_traded_ ** herself for Winston, Will....and somehow I ended up traded for Beverly. When  
did you last see her?"

 

"A few halls down, at another shit filled hall like this one you just came out of, but farther away, I,  
think she had my cell phone but then she got snatched under into the water and I couldn't find her,  
I swam around in that shit for...so long, I tried to find her...I couldn't, I...couldn't stop, vomiting,  
it was horrible...I tried to keep looking...I don't..." Will started to shake again, his brows pulling  
together as he stifled a sob and looked down at his battered bloody hands.

 

Hannibal hushed him, pulling him into another gentle hug as he kept his eyes studying their surroundings.

 

"Don't worry about that....if what I think happened, then she's safe, she's back with Winston, and  
she's trying to find a way to get us out of here, darling...listen- hey....she's the one who put together  
about every bit of this theory, over a course of five months she never for a moment stopped looking  
for explanations for your disappearance, Will. Neither did I, but...my road was much more in...our  
dimension while hers went where it was thankfully destined to go...don't you worry about her."

 

Will looked at him, eyes widening as his jaw trembled, Hannibal staring into the baffled bright eyes in question.

 

"F.. _five_...months?" He stammered, whimpering as he bit his lip.

 

 

 

"...how long, do you think it's been, Will?" Hannibal frowned.

 

 

\---

 

 

 

 

"Y-...a year..I _think_...I've been hiding...f~for at _least_ 4 months since I escaped it..." Will held up his forearm, wiping  
the blood and gook from the skin with a pained wince as he displayed it. A large cluster of tally marks dug into his flesh,

swollen and infected as it attempted to heal in the filthy environment, rows scratched over to symbolize each month

"How...Jesus, Will..." "L-look.." Will grabbed Hannibal's wrist and pointed at his watch, the hands on the face frozen, then

the 'second' hand ticked once after far too long.

 

"I've tried to make...make sense of it..for so long...what, what day did you come here?" "...November, 12th...2016." Hannibal

stared at Will's injuries, the bloody hand so weakly holding his wrist. Will scoffed, his eyes tearing up again as he rolled his

eyes to blink away the wetness and nodded in acceptance. "From what.." He cleared his throat, "-from what I think I managed

to c-count...it's about October of 2017 d-down here..."

 

Before they could continue talking to catch up on what was happening and how they ended up where  
they are, they both straightened up, tensing when a chitter was heard faintly somewhere far away.

 

"Oh n-no, **_fuck_** , come on-" Will whispered, almost instantly switching on his survival skills he must  
have developed in the nightmarish place, his bruised calloused fingers wrapping in Hannibal's as he  
suddenly took off running down the hall Hannibal had emerged from, Hannibal's short protest cut  
short when Will inhaled and sunk down beneath the bloody pool. Hannibal scowled and  
glanced over his shoulder as he gasped in and followed him down below.

 

He held his breath, crouched low with Will an inch in front of him, facing him with squinting eyes  
as he pinched his nose and mouth shut, pointing up at the muffled swishing blood red water  
above them littered with the chunks of organs and bones. He looked up as he held his breath without his

hands, blinking painfully up to see a long shadow flutter against the sloshing waves, pausing on the ceiling before

skittering away with frightening speed. Looking back to Will, he blinked at him in confusion as Will nodded once

with terror filled eyes. His own eyes shifted, following a small bit of intestine that floated up from the bottom of  
the pool, squinting when Will's hand slowly lifted and grabbed the piece to prevent it from popping up on the surface

to give away their hiding spot.

 

Despite the insanely unbelievable horrific situation they were in, Hannibal couldn't help but feel  
wildly attracted to Will's survival skills and quick wit to keep himself alive this long.

 

Almost as if Will had read his thoughts, the boy winked at him with a soft shrug under the thick  
red inky water. Hannibal covered his mouth to stop from grinning and blinked hard to fight the burn in his eyes.

 

After a moment passed, Will let the piece of intestine go, staring up at the surface as it plopped up  
and swayed to a still.

 

When the shadow didn't return to the ceiling above, Will nodded and they emerged from the water  
quietly with little movement or sound. Finally they exhaled, panting as they tried to find oxygen again in the hot

thin burning air. "I'm positive- hff..it's inappropriate right now...but meine _god_ , I'm in so in **love** with you William."

 

Will huffed a small laugh and shook his head.

 

"You're a- hhfuck, you're a sick _freak_ like that...but that's why I love you too... **idiot**..."

Hannibal smirked through his breathing, looking around to make sure the shadowy thing wasn't around.

 

"Now let's..ffucking, get the fuck out of here...god, please..." Will spat some blood from his lips  
and cringed as he turned to return trudging through the filth, the wounds all over his body screaming  
in protest before Hannibal hurried over and lifted him in his arms, cradled up to keep him out of the mess.

 

"...th-thank you..." Will whispered exhaustedly, touching his forehead to Hannibal's jaw as he wrapped his  
throbbing arms around the man's neck. His muscles relaxed, for the first time in what felt like an entire  
year, he wasn't being tortured, chased, running for his life or hiding from hell, he was held in the  
protective strong arms he had dreamed of every moment of the waking terror. It was almost  
relieving enough to send him to sleep, but his awareness of where he still was kept him inches  
away from that sweet desired rest...his hooded eyes half open as he remained partially alert.

 

 

 

Hannibal simply grunted lightly as he held the young man up over the slough, focusing on the walls and  
ceiling as he made their way slowly and quietly as he could down the half drowned hall.

 

 

\---

 


	7. A Deeper Hell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hannibal and Will come across a strange patch of wall in the gore filled pathways,  
> deciding to test it when Will promises he'd never seen it before.
> 
> Stepping through- they find a new level of the nightmare,  
> challenging their exhaustion and sanity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've honestly likely mixed about 8 different childhood  
> horror flick situations in this so far.
> 
> If you recognize any of them then you're my best friend <3

 

 

 

 

Hannibal sat Will down gently when they found a strange portion of wall- the red bloody dripping vines  
stopping in the cracks around a clear archway shaped spot.

 

"Have you seen this before?" Hannibal asked curiously, reaching out to touch the space before Will snapped  
his hand up to stop his wrist.

 

"No...I haven't..and I don't know what it does...we should test it." Hannibal quirked a brow at him  
and eyed the gashes in his torso again.

 

"Will- do you want my shirt?"

 

"No, the cloth will just remind me the cuts are there, I'll be fine, I'm used to them." Will blinked down and  
spotted a bone, picking it up and sighing shakily as he prepared to touch the space with it.

 

"I'll do it." Hannibal stopped him and took the slimy cracked thing from his hand. They both gasped when  
the edge of the bone was sucked into the cement, the wall rippling as it waited for the rest of the object  
to go through.

 

Hannibal pulled it back out with a grunt against the slight resistance, studying the unchanged state of it.

"What do you think is on the other side?" Will gulped fearfully and watched Hannibal think.

 

"Hannibal? _Wait_ ~!" He hissed in shock when the man dipped his hand into the crumbling wall up to his  
elbow.

 

Will grabbed Hannibal's shoulders and helped him pull back out of the suction, both panting after the  
short struggle.

 

"It's fine...whatever's on the other side doesn't seem to do any harm...should we go?" Hannibal glanced over Will's  
shoulder to keep an eye on the dark gruesome nightmare around them before looking back to Will's worried eyes.

"...s-sure...it's the first time I've seen something new down here so...s-so let's just do it."  
Will nodded with a twitch in his neck, sighing as he grabbed Hannibal's hand tight.

 

"Alright then." Hannibal inhaled and pushed his foot through with his shoulder, shoving himself in as Will  
followed along with a muttered whimper.

 

\---

 

 

They both stood frozen in shock, hand in hand as a violent dry dusty wind spun around them- flecks of  
ashes and embers flying past them and stinging their skin as the environment around them exploded into  
a hellish apocalypse wrecked city under ground.

 

Buildings and skyscrapers rotted and burned half to nothing as the hot roaring wind wore away at everything,  
deteriorating unnaturally speedy as piles of cars and objects rusted and cracked into dust flowing into the brutal whirlwind.

Will choked on a gag in the dry air, heaving over to vomit nothing from his empty stomach as Hannibal stood  
in wild confusion, still gripping the boy's hand in his, he took in the new damning sight before him.

 

When Will finally stood back upright, gasping though his thin breaths, he closed an eye to fight the  
burning sand and dust blowing harshly against his face, looking at Hannibal with question.

 

"Wha-what do we do now!?" He shouted over the deafening wind.

 

"...we keep going." Hannibal said, taking off his shirt and forcing Will to put it on along with his socks.

"What are you..Hannibal..." "My shoes are too big for you, you might as well have something on your feet,  
and this weather isn't going to do you any good with your wounds, just take it. I don't have cuts on my torso,  
I'll be fine. I know you'll fight me on taking my bottoms so, let's just get going."

 

Will frowned and nodded, holding Hannibal's arm as they slowly started forward against the harsh sandy hot winds.

 

\---

 

After almost a mile in their treacherous walk, drenched in quick drying sweat, blood, and filth, Will gasped and twisted his  
grip on Hannibal's arm to draw his attention to a wrecked car across from them. Something clattering as a shadow  
crawled and hid from sight in the vehicle.

 

"...I noticed it a while back...ignore it, keep walking with me dear..." Hannibal muttered, pulling Will along gently.

 

They continued on for a while before Hannibal shifted his eyes to the other side of the destroyed dusty road, a new  
shadow darting between crushed cars beneath burning ashes.

 

"Hannibal-"

 

"Keep going, focus on me."

 

They sped up their steps, Will whimpering shortly when he noticed a third, fourth, and fifth join on either sides  
of them in the wreckage.

 

" _Shit_..." Hannibal snarled a curse under his breath and sped his walk to a jog, a sixth and seventh showing up in the groups  
as he gripped Will's hand tighter and began running.

 

" _Hannibal_ ~!" Will gasped with dread in his voice, hurrying to keep on the man's heels as they transitioned into a sudden  
sprint in the furious hot sandy wind.

 

He glanced to the side as they ran, finally spotting one clearly when it leapt from the ground to the hood of a vehicle  
and over the hood- a bloodless thin creature that could pass for a twisted mummy cadaver, the eyeless holes above  
a sharp exaggerated long mouth agape as it hissed a shrill sound at them.

 

"UH- **HANNIBAL** ~!?" Will began to panic even further, looking forward at the man's bare back- his skin scratched and  
reddening against the harsh grainy hot wind as they ran hand in hand.

 

Hannibal couldn't think of a single way out of the situation, only spotting a tall pile of wreckage coming up on their left,  
he decided to turn towards it, dragging Will along as they rushed up the hill of smoldering rusty metal and cinder blocks.

 

Will looked over his shoulder at the large group of starved, tortured writhing monsters that gathered and climbed the  
pile after them with horrific screeches echoing in the fiery wind.

 

Time seemed to slow down at that moment, Hannibal leaping in the air from the tip of the crumbling hill with Will  
following the fall right behind him- a blending monstrous cluster of demonic infected bodies roaring as they climbed  
over one another, reaching out towards the two targets with skinny long burnt fingers.

 

 

Will clenched his eyes shut tight as Hannibal turned and wrapped Will into his chest as they fell towards churning shadows below.

 

 

\---


	8. Hot Smoke

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "-it worked!?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *whispers*
> 
> sorry for insanely short...paragraph?
> 
> didn't know much else to do with this at the moment but felt horrible leaving it sitting 
> 
> x_x

 

\---

 

Will and Hannibal both hit a wood floor with a thunderous bang, Hannibal holding Will tight in his arms as they both grunted agonizing gasps.

Beverly, Jimmy and Brian all shouted, backing away into each other in the room when the two men exploded out  
of thin air and rattled everything in the house.

They stared wide eyed in disbelief as the two laid panting, seething hot as smoke and embers burned from their  
red ashy skin and clothes.

"What the- FUCK!?" Brian snapped, dropping his camera to the floor as they still stood petrified in place.

Hannibal and Will choked through a fit of coughing and gagging, wheezing for the fresh air as they groaned and  
tried to move their screaming worn out muscles.

"WILL! HANNIBAL! I- WHAT- THE FUCK, IT WORKED!? OH MY...GOD, IT WORKED!" Beverly shrieked as she   
dropped to her knees and touched Will's hunched over shoulders, gasping with a hiss as the hot tattered shirt  
scalded her finger tips.

Simply hearing Beverly's voice was enough validation to let Will feel safe enough to collapse, dropping back down against  
Hannibal's heaving chest as they both passed out on the floor- smoke still dwindling down around their bodies.

"Get a bus here guys, come on!"

"What the shit do we tell them!?" Jimmy replied in shock still.

"That we've got two burn victims, who cares, just get some help over here!"

 

\---

 

"Try and explain it one more time please...?" Will croaked hoarsely from the hospital bed. Hannibal sitting in a wheelchair

beside him with tired eyes. 

Beverly sighed and rubbed her face. 

"I'm not proud of it, but me, Jimmy and Brian are officially grave robbers....fresh..grave robbers...like really fresh.  
we tested it out a ton of times- to get a few little friends back...I don't think that thing eats dogs...cause they were  
all fine, just gross and dirty." 

Will swallowed hard and winced as he spoke, "It turns them into some kind of hell hound...I think it takes a long time for them to change, but there were some

really scary mother fuckers that hunted me for a while...thank you for saving mine..."

 

Beverly smiled a worried curve and nodded, touching her hand to Will's wrist before looking to Hannibal.

"Do me a favor and please don't tell anyone we're the Chesapeake body snatchers? Just play it cool if Jack asks.  
Either way, Jesus, Will, why the hell do you have so many dogs? God, I could be a pro grave robber by now, so much digging."

Will laughed as Hannibal chuckled.

"Alright, cool, in return, please don't tell anyone Hannibal and I were dragged into Hell by demons and bug creatures and stuff?  
I'm on enough medication as it is." Will added with a sad smile, Hannibal raising a brow at the unexpected request. 

"...I  kind of want to tell people we escaped hell, to be honest."

"Hannibal, shut your mouth." Will snarled with a pained squint at the man who simply smirked and shrugged.

"I'm curious as to why you didn't take advantage of the bodies from the morgue you had access to fresh cadavers from the slabs?" Hannibal added with a raised brow. 

"Then it'd be obvious we did it Hannibal, GOD-! WHO ARE YOU, DID YOU LOSE YOUR SENSES DOWN THERE?!"

Will nodded and pursed his lips, glancing from Beverly to Hannibal as he agreed with her opinion. 

 

"That's the last time I'll climb into hell for you then, congrats." Hannibal murmured to himself as he frowned and toyed with the hospital robe belt. 

 

 

 

\---


End file.
